Tennis champion and Crows No.1 Ticket Holder Lleyton Hewitt paid a visit to the Club last week.

Hewitt, 33, spent a few days in Adelaide before jetting to Perth for Australia’s crucial Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan beginning on Friday. The Wimbledon and US Open winner used Adelaide’s training facilities and had a quick chat to coach Brenton Sanderson during the whirlwind trip.

Hewitt watches every Crows game either live or on replay while he’s on the Tour.

He was disappointed to miss out on seeing his team play in the flesh after arriving in Adelaide in the hours following the Club’s last match of the season against St Kilda.

“It’s a shame the boys aren’t in the finals and that I can’t sneak to a game in the next couple of weeks, but at least they finished on a good note against the Saints,” Hewitt told Channel Crow.

“I don’t get home (to Adelaide) as much as I’d like to. I haven’t been back since the Australian Open at the start of the year.

“It’s nice to get back for a couple of days and catch up with family and friends … and use the great training facilities here at the Club.”

Hewitt said there was a large contingent of Aussies on the ATP World Tour, who kept a close eye on the AFL.

“All the Aussie boys watch the games through the live streaming. We wake up at all strange hours. The only matches I ever miss watching live are if I have to play the following day and can’t wake up at four or five o’clock in the morning before a big match at a Grand Slam,” Hewitt said.

“It’s good to have a few of the other Aussie boys keen on AFL as well. Thanasi Kokkanakis is Port, so we don’t talk to him! One of my coaches, Peter Luczak is a Bombers fan. Sam Groth goes for the Swannies and Chris Guccione is a Geelong man.

“(American) John Isner loves Australian Rules too. I think he roomed with a kid from WA when he was growing up in college in America. He actually understands the game quite well, and he keeps an eye on the Fremantle Dockers.”

Hewitt, who lives in the Bahamas with wife Bec and their three children, also talks footy with his near-neighbour, World No.1 golfer and Crows Ambassador Adam Scott.

“Adam Scott is obviously a Crows fan too. We both live in the Bahamas, so we talk about the Crows a fair bit,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt travels with a Crows guernsey.

His five-year-old son, Cruz, also loves the Club and, in particular, lookalike Rory Sloane, who actually played and coached tennis prior to being drafted by Adelaide.

“My little boy, who travels with me a lot throughout the year, always has his footy. We like having a kick as much as possible. That’s probably the one thing we miss the most about being away from home, the Aussie Rules football,” Hewitt said.

“At the moment, Cruz is more keen on tennis. Tennis in my blood … with all my family playing professionally … but he loves every sport at the moment which is good for me.

“I haven’t had a hit with Sloaney yet, but I keep offering for him to come to one of the tennis tournaments. He’s one of my favourite players and I keep in touch with him throughout the year.

“My son loves Sloaney because he’s got the same sort of hair. Cruz is his biggest fan.”

Hewitt played football as a child before his tennis career took off.

“Football was probably my favourite sport actually, but then tennis took over when I was 13-14,” he said.

“I started travelling overseas for international junior tennis trips at that was always in the winter here in Australia.

“I started winning too many of those tournaments and it was too good an opportunity to pass up.”

Sloane and Hewitt will have another opportunity for a hit over the summer when Hewitt returns to prepare for the Australian Open in January.

But first the former World No.1 is determined to help Australia return to the Davis Cup World Group with a win over Uzbekistan.

Hewitt and rising star Nick Kyrgios will spearhead the Aussie attack against World No.55 Denis Istomin and world No.133 Farrukh Dustov.

“We play Uzbekistan on Friday on grass courts in Cottesloe over in WA. It’s a big match for us. We’ve got some good, up and coming players, so I’m just trying to lead from the front,” Hewitt said.

In a testament to his competitiveness and longevity, Hewitt remains Australia’s highest-ranked tennis player. He’s won two ATP titles in a year for the first time since 2004.

“My year has been pretty good. I’ve had some rough draws in the Grand Slams. If you’re not seeded at the Slams, you can run into anyone. Playing the No.6 guy in the world, Thomas Berdych, in the first round of the US Open was pretty rough. All in all, I’ve played pretty well,” Hewitt said.

“I started the year strongly, beating Roger Federer in the final at Brisbane in three tough sets. I beat Kei Nishikori, who’s a top-10 player as well, in the semis as well. From there, I won Newport beating Ivo Karlovic and a whole lot of good grass court players along the way.

“Anytime you win two titles in one year is a decent year, but if I could finish the year strongly and help get the boys back in the David Cup World Group that would be nice.”